2009: Top 6 Successes

Now that the new year has begun, I’ve started taking stock of what we accomplished in 2009. While I feel like we had a very successful year, six specific items come to mind.

(1) Mimi Wins! – After four months of campaigning, Mimi Carter was elected to the Alexandria School Board on May 6, 2009. The Friends of Mimi Carter campaign was built on grassroots communications, from email blast and phone banks to participating in one-on-one conversations with voters. Thanks to the help of many volunteers, Mimi secured 2,228 votes and won a three-year term on the board.

(2) From 0 to 69 Cosponsors – In 2009, we spent many hours working with the Huntington’s Disease Society of America in its efforts to generate support for HR 678. This bill would make it easier for people affected by HD to obtain medical care and disability benefits. Through a variety of grassroots communications tactics, we persuaded 69 Representatives in Congress to support the bill.

(3) Operation 435 – More than 12 million Americans have COPD and building a patient movement is a primary goal of the COPD Foundation. In 2009, we created Operation 435, a campaign to mobilize COPD patients in every single congressional district. In November, we generated more than 500 advocate communications with state health officials and positioned the Foundation to succeed in 2010.

(4) Just Call me Professor – Teaching a graduate level course on grassroots communications at Georgetown has been a major highlight of my year. It’s been challenging, but my students have been fantastic and we’ve had great discussions about how to build effective grassroots and word-of-mouth marketing campaigns. I’m looking forward to continuing and expanding my public speaking and teaching skills in 2010.

(5) Big Flea Keeps Rollin’ – Even though I was less involved with the 2009 MV Big Flea, I still rank it in my top 5. Thanks to Facebook, Craiglist, Ebay and a WordPress blog, we generated tons of word of mouth conversations about the event. As a result, more than 1,000 people attended our third-annual event and we raised $10,724 for our school’s early childhood education programs.

(6) Putting PAD on the Map – Everyone knows about atherosclerosis and how clogged chest arteries can lead to heart attack, stroke and early death. Far fewer know that leg arteries can also clog with the same results. Working with the PAD Coalition, we educated congressional and administration officials about PAD and laid the groundwork for future efforts to increase the number of high risk Americans screened for PAD.